Funbari no Senki
by Lavenian
Summary: A promise I owe to Abie05, done with chapter 6.
1. Family Visit

Episode 1: Family Visit

Disclaimer: Standard Disclaimer applies

A young boy of about 13 or so of age was sleeping on the sidecar of a motorcycle.

Just then, the man he was riding with nudged him awake, "Hey, Hana, we're here…" he said.

Then the boy called Hana woke up to find that they stopped near a town.

"So… this is where mom and dad stay?" asked Hana.

"Of course, I'll see you in a couple of days, they already know you're coming back, and I think you'll know where to find them" said the man.

"Alright, thanks Uncle Ryu" said Hana as he raised a goodbye hand to Ryu as he bid Hana farewell.

Elsewhere…

Yoh was busy preparing breakfast as usual, although the entire ordeal of doing so had now been a bit more a daily habit as he grew, Yoh also sported a completely new appearance: his hair was now longer and much more like his "twin brother" and among other things, he was wearing a black muscle shirt that exposed his six-pack abs, something he's proud to have his darling Anna for. She trained him endlessly for years until his body became as solid as a rock, even Anna gets SLIGHTLY intimidated by him now. Along with his solid body Yoh also became incredibly agile, able to perform various acrobatic moves to accent his already formidable fighting style.

As for Anna, she grew up to be even more attractive (and seductive) than ever before, oftentimes, (and for the first known time) trying to entice her husband every night and on a few rare occasions during the day. She was also the one who trained Yoh to do acrobatic moves by training with him herself, for "special" purposes, and because she found herself wanting to prove that she's not just some "slave-driver."

Getting back to the story, Anna came in, having just finished freshening up for the day and was already prepared for breakfast, and as expected, Yoh was already done and the two ate as they normally did.

Finally, Yoh spoke up, "Hana's coming over to visit us today…"

Then Anna asked "How do you know he's coming, much less today, even?"

"Ryu informed me last week, and he specifically stated that it was on this day. Hana's also coming on his own and Ryu just dropped him off nearby" replied Yoh.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go and fetch him already!" commanded Anna.

"Yes ma'am," after finishing his meal, Yoh left to pick up Hana at the drop point Ryu specified.

"Oh, and Yoh…" said Anna.

"Yes, yes, I know Anna, I haven't forgotten."

And Yoh came and gave his wife a small peck on the cheek, as usual…

Elsewhere…

Hana was now on a track leading to the city where his parents lived, along the way, he found a sign which said "Welcome to Funbari, Tokyo!" tilted to the side, he simply straightened it into the correct position and eyed the surroundings, and it was quiet, just like Izumo… Perfect.

Hana continued walking until he came towards the main part of town, it was a little empty, with only a few people selling stuff, then his eye caught sight of a place that sold banana cream cupcakes, like his father, Hana also had a fetish for fruit, but instead of oranges, he liked bananas.

Later…

"This cupcake rocks!" said Hana.

"Heh, well, it's my wife's, she's one of the best cupcake bakers ever, this is only one of her work" said the proprietor.

"Whatever, this thing rocks nonetheless" Hana finished up and headed off to leave, but then the proprietor stopped him, giving him a bag. "What's this?" asked Hana, "Oh, just some free cupcakes, we always give free samples to people who like our stuff," said the man, "But I don't have any money" said Hana, "Oh, nevermind that, consider it a treat!" said the man, "Gee, thanks!" and Hana went off.

Hana continued through the town, still watching the sights as he went along.

Later…

"Are you sure you wanna do this, honey?" asked the wife of the bakery proprietor.

"Hey, if we wanna make money, we have to go for the big league! Make our products known!" exclaimed the proprietor.

"sigh, it's always like you to dream big, isn't it hon?" said the wife as she helped him pack a car full of them.

"Of course, everybody has dreams" said the man.

Meanwhile…

In a dark, vast, black emptiness was a glowing blood-red moon floating against a starless night sky, illuminating this darkness with an eerie light, standing against this was the silhouette of a large, tower-like castle standing against the red light and blackness.

Inside, on its highest point, the personal quarters of its current owner located at the Castle Keep, was a large spiky cluster of magma built into the wall of the inner quarters, near the middle is a large circular altar-thing with a metallic dome, and near this dome were two mysterious people, one looked like a floating skeleton with no lower section, with rags instead of legs, and a peculiar horned headdress, the other person looked like a copper-skinned, red-headed woman wearing black, skimpy surgeon clothes.

"Dr. Cutter, we brought you into our ranks because you held potential to help my daughter, Stella, but in recent times up until now, you've failed to produce results!" boomed the skeleton guy.

"Calm yourself, Telsat, I have only just been recently inducted as you know, so it should not come as a surprise that I was in the process of producing something for the mistress…" said Dr. Cutter.

"That is still no excuse for your laziness, doctor! If you continue to put yourself at work in that idle corner of yours, I'll be more than convinced your just biding your time!" immediately after that, the massive magma pile boomed, before a female voice could be heard resonating throughout the room.

"Father, please, let the doctor do her work…" said the voice.

"Hmph, very well…" said Telsat begrudgingly.

"Very well then," said Dr. Cutter, "ahem, anyway, I spent months working on this project, and so now, here it is!" then she pulled out some kind of a key.

Telsat recognized this, "A Key of Dark Dominance, I have heard of these items, they are a powerful commodity for those shamans who, as those would put it, abuse power and do anything to whatever end to accomplish it." remarked Telsat.

"Yes, and after a little bit of research, I've come to a bit of a conclusion, with this, we'll be able to produce powerful creatures that will be able to help us, and the mistress, greatly…" then Dr. Cutter inserted the key into a slot on the round altar, as she did, the metal dome opened up to reveal a green apparition of a bug thing that had a cog-gear sticking out under its belly…

Elsewhere…

Hana continued to walk around the town a bit; Funbari was a really nice place… until he heard an explosion.

Hana went to the site of the explosion; it was the place with the bakery where he got the cupcakes, "Aah! What is that!?" shouted the proprietor, suddenly, a giant bug thing jumped out and gobbled up the entire car that was loaded with the cupcakes.

The wife stumbled back at the sight of this thing, but the man got angry instead, "You stupid monster! Look at what you've done!" then the man took a broken metal pipe and started hitting the giant bug-thing. But the monster simply shrugged him off and the man stumbled back with his wife.

"Wha- what is this thing!?" said the man with a growing sense of fear in his voice.

Hana, on the other hand, saw the whole thing, especially the giant bug-thing, and he was crossed, "Why you-! You ate all of these two bakers' precious cupcakes! I shall not forgive you!" then he picked up the metal pipe and started fighting against the bug-monster, and this time, he actually hurt it, well, a little bit.

The bug robot, with the gear on its chest, seemed to have been annoyed by this and turned to leave, but Hana jumped onto its back to try and stop it, "Hey, are you trying to run away, you coward!?", the bug robot wasn't listening, and jumped very high as it ran off…

"What was… that about?" said the bakery owner, dumbfounded.

Meanwhile, Yoh was on his way to pick up Hana, "sigh, why did Ryu ever have to pick a location that's practically on the other side of the district!?" he grumbled, but moved on. After a while, Yoh heard a sort of thumping sound, which grew louder and louder, until he saw a giant bug thing on the roof of building, snarling loudly, but then he also saw a blonde haired boy astride the back of the beast, shouting "Hey, you stupid monster, why don't you stop running and fight like a bug!" said the boy, before the bug robot jumped away yet again.

"H-Hana!?!"

The bug robot was still jumping around building after building; until it jumped so high every building from where Hana was looking at was the size of a pebble, but Hana continued to hold on despite the turbulence, "Hey! HEY! Are you even listening to me!?!" shouted Hana against the turbulence, just then, a white light blinked in the sky, "Huh?" but before Hana could react, a white light came falling out of the sky and hit him, causing Hana to lose his grip and fall back into the city, "YAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!" Hana screamed as he fell back towards the city. Hana fell until he crashed through the roof of an old Buddhist temple.

Inside, Hana woke up to find that "What? I'm… alive, but how…?" before he could gather what happened, a voice spoke to him, "Hey, kid!" Hana looked up to find a glowing white sword jabbed onto the floor, "Huh? Who are you?" asked Hana, "Nevermind that! We got company!" said the spirit inhabiting the sword, just then the bug robot came rushing into the temple, breaking through the walls searching for Hana.

"What do we do!?" asked Hana.

"Grab me!" said the spirit.

"What?"

"Just grab me!" Hana did as told, and he felt a surge of energy pass through him as he did so, immobilizing his entire body, "What- what are you doing?" asked Hana.

"Sorry kid, but for now, I'm taking over your body" said the spirit, and Hana felt his entire nervous system go against his will, with the spirit taking control of his body movements as well as his mind.

"Alright, let's go!" he exclaimed as he raised his sword at shoulder level, pointing towards the bug robot, with his free hand open near the tip of the blade, like he was a samurai or something.

The bug robot then rushed out for Hana, at which point the young boy grabbed the sword with both hands and countered by parrying each of the bug robot's attacks. Then the bug robot grabbed the sword with its teeth and threw Hana towards the wall, Hana simply jumped off the wall and behind the Buddha statue, where he came out from the other end and jumped on the back of the bug robot. Then, Hana stabbed its head with his sword, but the beast started bucking around like nuts, before it threw Hana to the ground, Hana rose up, watching the bug monster about to bite him again, Hana blocked with his sword, but the bug monster tossed Hana through the hole in the roof. Hana remained calm in spite of this, and then he summoned his spirit out, "Oversoul!" Hana fused the spirit with the sword, and the result was the same sword Hana saw with the white aura, as how it looked, it glowed with a white aura whenever it was in Oversoul, as well as featured a pair of blue plate like shields formed by blue hexagonal pieces with an eerie glowing red eye in each one near the cross-guard.

Hana then fell back towards the opening from the roof, but this time with his Oversoul diving down first, as Hana came down from the roof, he started to spin like a wheel as he fell further, finally slicing the monster in two in the typical "slicing in half" motion, pretty old, but still cool, especially if the monster leaves white-glowing residue from the battle…

Outside…

Yoh ran after where the bug robot went, finally reaching the temple with the broken roof on top.

Inside…

Hana stood inside the temple, but fainted as the spirit which took over his body left, the strain of bearing him was simply too much for Hana; Yoh finally arrived, and found Hana unconscious, "Hana? Hana!? Are you okay? Hana!"

That Night…

Hana laid on one of those futon beds you see in some Japanese homes, with a damp cloth on his forehead. "Will he be alright?" asked Yoh, "He'll be fine, just a lot of pressure on his part due to his body being taken over…" said Anna, "Speaking of which, what about the rogue spirit that came to him?" asked Anna, "Oh, he's going to be sticking around for while, I had Amidamaru keep an eye on him, I have a few questions that need answering…" replied Yoh.

"Good," then she turned to her unconscious son, "Hana, it's good to see you again…" said Anna rather solemnly, then gripped his hands tightly.

Hana smiled, realizing that it was his mother's touch…

Comedic Ending:

The sign "Welcome to Funbari, Tokyo" from earlier tilted to the side again… (sweatdrop)

A/N: Well… after months of deciding the plot, I finally have this thing down-pat, I know, it was a little crazy, but hey, this is just the beginning, trust me, and absolutely, positively, one hundred percent no flames! Or else, Hana does to you what he did to the bug robot…


	2. Of Mysteries and Massacres

Episode 2: Of Mysteries and Massacres

Disclaimer: Standard Disclaimer applies

Lyserg returned to England and eventually settled down, with none other than his former leader from his time with the X-Laws, the Iron Maiden Jeanne, as his wife, of all people…

They now live in Surrey, the countryside area located at the southern outskirts of London, along with their two children, the son, Trevor, and the daughter, Laura.

Lyserg, like his father before him, continued the legacy of shaman detectives, Trevor and Laura would also bear this responsibility as well. Lyserg was now a grown, mature man, yet despite this, he still had his trademark androgynous looks, although his hair was now shorter and well-combed, a bang of hair covered his left eye, Lyserg also still looked exactly the same as he was when he was a kid, the only thing missing was his detective shawl.

Lyserg was currently away from the village he lived in to investigate a very odd case from a client, one day, the client said he answered a mysterious ad about a spot in some "League of Seniors" association and worked copying the Encyclopedia _Britannica_, page by page, until one day, he discovered that the League he was working for suddenly dissolved, in that the whole business came to an end. For Lyserg, this was his strangest case yet ever since he began his career.

After getting a few details about the man who employed his client, Lyserg bid farewell to his family for now and boarded the train bound for London.

London…

Lyserg headed for 7 Pope's Court, Fleet Street, the location of where Lyserg's client said he met the one who employed him for the League. Lyserg stepped inside his client's work office, and began studying the room for anything that might give him a clue, but found nothing, the walls were solid, the floors firm, and the windows normal and practically everything else weren't out of place.

Lyserg then remembered that his client's employer owned this room before the client moved in for work duties for the League. Lyserg then went to the landlord to inquire about his client's employer.

"The gentleman who owned the spot at number 4…" asked Lyserg.

"Oh, you mean that man? His name is Duncan Ross, he told me he was renting out some rooms until his new office was ready, in fact, he even told me where it was: 17 King Edward Street."

Lyserg went to that address, but all he found was a manufacturing company for artificial knee-caps, and no one there had even heard of a Mr. Duncan Ross. After that, Lyserg booked some accommodations at the local hotel.

That night, Lyserg went over what he gathered that day, and then decided to find out more about this Duncan Ross.

Next Day…

Lyserg returned to the landlord to ask about where this Duncan Ross lived. The landlord then said he lived in a house at Coburg Square.

Lyserg went to that place next, finally arriving at the house of his suspect, Lyserg walked up and down the street, still looking intently at the houses, and studying every detail, finally, he returned his attention back at the house; Lyserg dropped his pendulum on the pavement, and then knocked on the door.

Lyserg was met by a middle-aged man; Lyserg takes him for about thirty, with a clean-shaven face, well-built but slim body, his most notable features was a white splash of acid on his forehead and pierced earlobes meant for earrings.

"How may I help you?" asked the man.

"Oh, not much, just wanted to ask directions to the Strand…" said Lyserg.

The man then pointed towards the distance, "Third right, then fourth left" then the man went back inside.

Morphine finally appeared, asking what Lyserg was asking about, "Smart man, that Duncan Ross, he's the fourth smartest man in London, and as for daring, I'd place him at about third, I've met this person before…" said Lyserg, then Morphine asked about whether this man was involved with the "League of Seniors" a lot more than meets the eye, to which Lyserg answered yes, and then she asked if Lyserg simply asked Duncan just so he could take a look at him, to which Lyserg responded, "No, not really _him_ but rather, the knees of his trousers, and I saw exactly what I needed to see. Now come, Morphine, it's time to inspect the back of these houses…"

Lyserg and Morphine then traveled to the street behind Coburg Square, and Lyserg named the shops and businesses they passed, "Mortimer's Tobacco Shop (A/N: No, this has nothing to do with Manta), The Vegetarian Restaurant, the City and Suburban Bank, and McFarlane's Taxi Station Office, and now Morphine, I believe it's time for lunch, and then, we'll be ready to finish this mystery…" said Lyserg triumphantly.

That night…

Lyserg assembled a small team in order to capture the culprit involved, it was comprised of the local police inspector, Peter Jones, the director for the City and Suburban Bank, Mr. Merryweather, and his client himself.

Lyserg and his team went down an alleyway and into a side door which led down into the bank's main vault. Here, Lyserg asked everyone to stay quiet and hide behind the crates piled around the vault.

Morphine appeared again and asked what was going on, "Don't worry Morphine, we're almost done, just a few more hours…"

Some time later, the floors of the vault began moving, and soon, the stones lining the floor went over with a crashing sound, and soon, a light emerged from the hole beneath, out of this hole was a long, slender hand that reached out and grabbed the edges of the hole, then he clambered out, carrying a crowbar and sack in his hands. At that moment, Lyserg pounced on the man, then so did the Inspector, and soon, they cuffed their criminal.

The bank director and the client went and thanked Lyserg for helping prevent the crime, then Mr. Merryweather asked if there were anyway he could reward him, "Just get me a ticket back to Surrey station, I'll be going home after this…" said Lyserg.

Next Day…

Lyserg went to the Train Station, ready to head home, while on his way back, Lyserg explained everything to Morphine, "You see, Morphine, I inferred that the only reason Duncan wanted my client at the office was because my client was his roommate, if ever my client figured out that his neighbor was a thief, Duncan's plan would be in jeopardy, so he devised a plan to get my client away from his house every single day while he worked on a tunnel that connected his house with the bank. Right before I left the village, I asked if the house my client and Duncan lived in had a basement, and when he said yes, that was my clue, Duncan had to be doing something in the basement that took him weeks to plan out, and, using his forging skills, created the fake ad about the League, and, as expected, his roommate went and answered the address, giving him time to dig. Though, I needed to confirm this first, and I believe that was when you saw me drop my pendulum on the pavement in front of the house, I wanted to check if the basement was at front or back, as I suspected, it was at the back, then I needed to confirm whether Duncan was really digging or not, and, as he answered the door, the knees of his trousers was dirtied from being on his hands and knees digging, after that, I just needed to know what he was digging for, and when I saw the bank back up against Duncan's and my client's house, I knew I found my answer. After that, I called upon the client, Mr. Merryweather, and Inspector Jones and the case was finished."

Lyserg, what an amazing detective he turned out to be, and he didn't even have to use his shaman powers too!

Lyserg was now on the train bound for Surrey Station, and he would be back at his village hometown, solving mysteries was fun, but nothing is better than spending time with his family.

Lyserg finally arrived at Surrey Station, it was raining, but Lyserg didn't worry too much, he'll just stop a cab and…

Suddenly, Lyserg felt something pass through his head, a voice, it was Jeanne's voice, "Lyserg, hurry, you have to get back home! Something terrible has happened!" and then it faded…

Lyserg, with no regard for the rain, dashed out as fast as his feet could carry him across the countryside, fearing the ominous presentiment in his heart, he desperately raced back home…

Elsewhere…

On the roof of a small medical clinic just outside of Berlin, Germany, was a young boy with blonde hair and square glasses, was standing on the roof of the building, looking intently at the horizon to the west, watching a swirling, ominous cloud take form against the distance, "Something's wrong, the clouds have been acting a little too violent, lately" he whispered. Just then, a blonde woman came to him, "Jr. It's time for dinner" said the woman.

"Coming, mother" said the boy, he turned to go back inside, but turned back to take one last look at the clouds to the west…

Lyserg…

Lyserg finally arrived back at his village, however, to his horror, he found his entire town ruined and destroyed! Lyserg eyed the destruction about him, until…

He found the corpse of an old lady, "Mrs. Stoner! Mrs. Stoner!!" he cried, but no response, and then he found another body, "Mr. Morris!" then another, "Hey, HEY!" but nothing, "Who… Who did this!?" he muttered, his eyes filled with anger.

Then, a bolt of lightning struck, followed by the sound of Jeanne's voice, Lyserg, Lyserg…" "What? Jeanne! Jeanne, are you alright?" he asked, "Lyserg, we're at the chapel, get here as soon as possible…" then she faded again, "What? Wait! Jeanne!"

Lyserg had no choice; he'll have to make it to the chapel.

Just as Lyserg was about to go down the path towards the chapel, he saw a wounded, bloody figure approach him, and it was Trevor, his son, he had the exact appearance of his father when Lyserg was younger, but sported the silver-blue hair of his mother.

"Trevor?"

"Dad…" then Trevor stumbled to his knees, to which Lyserg caught him, "Trevor!"

"Dad, you've made it, I'm glad…"

"Trevor, don't speak so hard, now tell me, what happened here? Who did this?" asked Lyserg.

"Dad, hurry, you've got to get mom and Laura out of here, before they come!" exclaimed Trevor.

"Trevor, calm down! Who are they?" asked Lyserg.

"They... AAAUUUGGGHHH!!!!" Trevor was suddenly struck on the back by an axe, and died in his father's arms, "No, NO! TREVOR!"

Suddenly, a group of three axe-wielding knight armors emerged.

"You were the ones who attacked here? For whom are you working!?" asked Lyserg towards the armors, "I will not forgive you for this! Prepare yourselves! Morphine!"

Morphine combined with the pendulum, and Lyserg deflected the incoming axes flung at him, then he quickly made quick work of the axe armors, after that, Lyserg looked over the body of his son, "Trevor… I'm sorry…"

Lyserg finally arrived at the chapel, and it was undamaged. Lyserg approached, until he saw the door open…

… To reveal Jeanne and Laura, Laura looked like her mother, but had Lyserg's green hair, but still had red eyes, his wife and daughter were still alive, thank goodness, Laura ran up to her father and hugged him tightly, "Dad! You're back, I was so worried! But… where's brother?" asked Laura, Lyserg simply lowered his head, not willing to tell Laura the fate of her brother, "No… No! Trevor can't be dead, 'sob', HE CAN'T!" then she started crying on Lyserg's shirt, Lyserg looked at Jeanne, Jeanne wore a long skirt, indigo blouse, and a plaited shawl around her shoulders, she too, came in to comfort Laura, now their only child.

Morning…

Lyserg and Jeanne were at the grave of their son, giving their last words to him before leaving.

"Who were those guys who attacked you?" asked Lyserg.

"I don't know, I don't even recall seeing such things before" said Jeanne.

"Maybe we should tell Yoh what happened; he'll know what to do"

"Hopefully…" said Jeanne softly, before the family of three took another train bound for London.

A/N: The first half of the story is based on one of my Sherlock Holmes books, if any of you found this familiar, you'll know. Also, sorry if I left it a bit cliffhanger for the first chapter, but, it'll get better, trust me 


	3. Rivalry

Episode 3: Rivalry

Disclaimer: Standard Disclaimer applies

Back at Funbari, it was a cold, starless night; a night patrol officer was making his last rounds around Funbari, then he looked up to admire the moon, "Hooo… the moon sure looks pretty tonight" said the patrolman, suddenly, he noticed the moon moving closer towards him, "What the! Whoa!" the patrolman fell on his back, and backed off as the "moon" got closer to him.

The patrolman tried to run but stumbled over again, and resorted to crawling away, but was stopped when he heard a voice, "Where is the one called Hana?" said the voice, the patrolman turned around, to see that the "moon" turned into a young boy, about thirteen, with long blond hair, black coat, fishnet shirt, and gray pants and eerie green eyes, he was also armed with a broad, single-edged sword with a notch by the tip, he had very creepy, cold eyes which pierced through the patrolman like a heated knife through butter.

"Where is he!?!" asked the boy again.

"I… I don't know what you're talking about!" said the patrolman.

"Useless peon! Shadow of Fire!" suddenly, a massive red-colored haze in a vague, humanoid shape emerged, "Burn this peon!" suddenly, the patrolman watched as the red haze created a massive ball of fire, and fired it at him, "Aaaahhh!!!" and in moments, the patrolman was engulfed in a great flame, after that, the fire dispersed and all that was left of the patrolman was a small ping-pong ball sized roll of cooled magma, "You're soul… is mine!" then the boy laughed a maniacal laugh…

Morning…

The Asakuras were in their dining room at Flame Inn, eating Yoh's home-cooked meals.

"So dad… does this mean I can bring Frank out with me?" asked Hana, "Sure, but remember, no funny stuff!" said Yoh, "Alright," and after breakfast, Hana got a pair of long white jeans, and a blue windbreaker and made his way out, "See you later Mom, Dad!" said Hana as he waved to the house, and left.

"He sure is an energetic young boy," said Yoh, "Are you sure it's safe to let him, our son, go with that renegade?" asked Anna, slightly concerned, "Relax, Frank won't do anything to him, he's just a little monotonous, that's all," said Yoh, trying to stifle Anna's concerns, "I hope so… oh, yes, and Yoh…?" Anna turned to see Yoh had already did what she was going to remind him, "Don't worry darling, I got it, I got it…"

What was Yoh doing? He was carrying a six ton barbell over his shoulder and Yoh didn't even seem to be bothered by it at all, and it goes without saying:

**It takes an Amazon like Anna to make real men**

As for Hana, he was walking with his new friend, Frank, if you're wondering, then yes; Frank was the spirit that possessed Hana in the first chapter.

Frank looked like he was a well-built man in life, but judging from his looks, he was thirteen when he died, Frank wore a red bandanna around his head, a black short-sleeved shirt, blue military pants and black army boots, as for his history, the only thing Hana could get from him was that he was a special agent for the Americans during the Cold War, and that he was taught by some ninja sensei the art of ninjutsu, but that was pretty much all he could get from him.

"Ne, Frank-san?" asked Hana.

"Yeah?" said Frank.

"You never told me how you died yet."

Oh, that… I don't like to talk about it…" said Frank.

C'mon, please?" said Hana.

"NO!!" shouted Frank angrily, "Alright, alright, I was just asking," said Hana.

Hana and Frank made their way to the ice cream parlor, where Hana asked if Frank would to have something to eat, Frank said no, since he was a ghost and that even if he wanted to, Frank didn't want Hana to be too concerned with him.

One week earlier…

"Who are you?" asked Yoh.

"That is none of your concern," said Frank.

"Well, it is to me, here you are, barging into Funbari and letting my son fight against who-knows-what? I would like to think I deserve to… get an explanation" said Yoh firmly.

"Very well, my name is Frank Jaeger, I was around at the time and found your son on the back of a giant bug, and I thought he was in trouble so I wanted to help."

"And you used his body against his will?" asked Yoh.

"There was no other way I could have fought that thing, your son would've been killed" said Frank.

"Well, I suppose for that, I guess it's alright," said Yoh, "What would I have to do to make you convinced?" asked Frank, "Hmm…" Yoh was thinking about this, "Let him be Hana's Spirit Guardian" Anna came into the room, "What!" said Yoh, a bit shocked, "If he meant no harm against Hana, then he wouldn't mind being his Guardian Spirit, wouldn't he?" said Anna, "But Anna…" Yoh was interrupted, "I accept, if it is alright with you?" said Frank. This was happening all too fast, but Yoh finally said,

"Fine, just make sure he doesn't get hurt," said Yoh.

"Yes sir" said Frank.

Present time…

"So, Frank, may I ask something about your lifestyle back then?" asked Hana.

"Alright, what?"

"Did you ever eat a snake before?" asked Hana.

"Most of the time, other times I ate mountain goat meat, live birds, and even crocodiles" replied Frank.

"Do you remember how any of them tasted like?"

"Well, the mountain goat meat was pretty good, and the birds didn't taste too bad, although the crocodiles tasted fantastic!" said Frank.

"Now there's a surprise…" thought Hana.

After eating, Hana went out for a walk, after a while, he noticed a group of policemen in front of a house, Hana went over to check on what was going on.

"Are you sure he didn't come back?" asked one of the officers.

"No… he didn't, and I'm worried about him" said the woman.

"Don't worry, we'll find him" said another officer determinedly, but also with a bit of uncertainty.

Hana was overhearing the whole thing, "You hear that, Frank? This looks like an interesting story."

"If you're thinking what I'm thinking, then no, Hana, I promised your father I'd keep you out of harm's way" said Frank.

"Aw, put a lid on it, Frank, besides, I have you to depend on, it'll be fun!" said Hana.

Frank sighed, "Fine, but don't do anything stupid, alright?"

"I got it…" replied Hana.

Hana and Frank continued walking around for a while, trying to find out whoever was the one responsible for the recent disappearances of people as of late.

Hana returned to the baker couple he met earlier and talked to them about the mysterious disappearances, "Yeah, It's been going on for quite some time now" said the man.

"When did it happen?" asked Hana.

"About just a week ago, four people have gone missing overnight, including one of the night watch patrolmen as of last night."

Then the wife came in, "It's really had everyone in quite a bit of a scare, I hope nothing bad happened to the ones who disappeared."

"Hopefully…" said Hana glumly.

Later…

It was beginning to get dark, as the sun was going down, "Hey, Hana, we should be getting back by now, your parents might be worried" said Frank.

Hana sighed, he wanted to know what was going on, but knew he couldn't let his parents worry about him, "Alright, we'll just look again tomorrow."

Hana and Frank turned to walk away when they heard gunshots, "Huh?"

Elsewhere, two police officers, one male and another female, were shooting at the blond-haired kid that had been attacking people, but each time they did, he simply deflected it with his sword, after a while, the cops' guns stopped firing with an awkward click, "No way" said one of them, "Impossible" said another.

"Useless…" then the Shadow of Fire reemerged and burned the other two, leaving only their souls preserved in balls of magma, "Hmph, no one, nothing about him at all… what a waste" he said.

"Hey!" shouted Hana.

"Huh?" the boy turned to face the one who called to him.

"What do you think you're doing!?" shouted Hana.

"These useless peons deserved it, not a single one of them knows where Hana Asakura is…" said the boy.

"Well, no need to worry, because I AM Hana Asakura!" exclaimed Hana.

This did not surprise the boy who was looking for him, but said calmly, "Well then, I hope you wouldn't mind it if we 'did battle'?" he said.

"Wouldn't have it any other way! Frank, you with me?" asked Hana to his spirit.

"I dunno Hana, there's something ominous about this…" but then he was cut off by Hana.

"I guess that's a yes. Alright, are you ready for this… uh, hey, you didn't even tell me your name yet" said Hana.

"My name is Nero, now, shall we get things started?" said the blond boy.

"Alright Nero, Frank, let's do this!" exclaimed Hana.

"Hana, I still think this isn't…" but it was too late.

"Hyoi Gattai!" and in that instant, Frank found himself in Hana's body, "sigh, this is why I hate kids" thought Frank, but for that moment, Nero was dashing for them with his weapon raised, and Frank had to do something, or his debt to the Asakuras would be in jeopardy.

Nero struck his sword down on Hana, but Frank (In Hana's body) managed to catch it before it landed on them, then Nero pulled his sword back and did a thrust, but Frank managed to jump over him to dodge, then Frank did a kick, but Nero blocked by pulling his sword over his shoulder to be a sort of shield. Then Nero slashed Hana horizontally, but Frank bent back using his right hand as a support to dodge the blow, then he punched Nero in the chest, but to his surprise, Nero didn't even flinch, Nero just shrugged, grabbed Hana's arm and threw him spinning into the air, and landed hard on his back with a thud.

Hana back-flipped back into position to face Nero, who was walking towards him again, "Frank, do something! He's going to kill us!" said Hana, "I'm thinking Hana, err…" Frank was facing a lack of options; he really didn't want Hana to drag them into this mess, but now he had no choice left, he had to do something. Then he ran up to the wall, with Nero following behind, then kicked of and tried to land a heel kick to Nero, but that didn't work either, with Nero blocking the attack with the side of his sword, and this time, he grabbed Hana by the back of his collar and hit him hard on the back with his sword's pommel. (Pommel- bottom end of a sword's hilt)

Then Nero kicked Hana at the sides and sent the poor boy rolling away, gripping his sides in pain.

"You're no fun, I had hoped for you to be a bit more 'challenging' than this, but I suppose I was wrong," then Nero raised his sword into the air, ready to strike down Hana, Frank, in the meantime, was forced out of Hyoi Gattai by Nero's kick.

"Goodbye, Hana-kun…" then Nero was about to land the finishing blow, but was blocked by something.

"Huh?" said Hana as he looked up.

"What?" said Nero when he glanced at who stopped him.

It was Frank, using his sword from the first chapter to block Nero's attack. Then Frank shoved Nero out a few ways before assuming a fighting position, "What's this? A spirit able to act independently without a shaman partner?" muttered Nero.

"Yes, do you have a problem with that?" asked Frank.

"Not at all, but I must admit, why would one such as yourself want to protect this 'boy' when you can have independence?" asked Nero.

"…" Frank was silent.

"Well…?" Nero asked him once more.

Then Frank spoke, "You really wish to know?"

"Yes" replied Nero.

Frank began, "Well, when I was still alive, my mentor taught me something that was all I could ever live for. That something was a phrase, and that phrase was: Loyalty to the end. It was something I was taught so I could have purpose in life, and so I fought, driven by my loyalty, and the belief of what I fought for gave me all the purpose I needed, there was nothing left for me to believe in, even in my so-called 'free-will', after I died, I wanted to find someone, someone, who could give me purpose again, someone to be loyal to," then he turned to Hana, who watched at Frank in awe, "I wandered the Earth, with what little strength could take me, until I found this boy, he had a strong will, I could feel it pulsing around me as I got close, it was then I knew, this boy had what it takes to give me purpose, so I helped him… besides, I don't need a reason to help somebody."

Hana was a little taken aback by this, "Frank-san…"

Nero applauded Frank, "Amazing, you are a one-of-kind spirit indeed, imagine, loyalty to some kid, humph!"

Frank retorted, "Doesn't matter, I just know this kid was meant for great things, and I'll see to it they be realized!"

Nero chuckled before saying, "Alright, alright, I get it, I'll let him live, but first, take a look at these," then Nero drew out a handful of the magma balls, "These little spheres you see here are the preserved souls of everyone I ever encountered who didn't know anything about Hana-kun over there" said Nero as he gestured his head to Hana, "So… now their spirits are trapped in these little balls, but don't worry, Hana-kun, your okaa-san (A/N: Okaa-san is mother, right?) might be able to help free them and return them to normal…"

Nero paused for a moment, then continued, "…If you can prevent their souls from passing over!" then Nero tossed the orbs over Frank, "What!"

But Hana managed to catch them before they broke and banished the spirits to the next life, "I got it!" then Frank said "Good work Hana!" suddenly, a jet of fire was felt behind Frank ,when Frank turned, he saw Nero's Spirit, "Say hello to my friend: Shadow of Fire, this introduction has been brief, but don't worry, I promise that when you get stronger, it'll be more exciting" and then, in a pillar of flame, both Nero and Shadow of Fire vanished.

Later…

Hana and Frank were walking home, both utterly exhausted.

Then Hana said, "Hey, Frank-san?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you really mean all those things, about the reason why you helped me?"

"Sort of…" replied Frank.

"What do you mean 'sort of'?"

"Just what I said: Sort of"

"Man, you're impossible…" said Hana.

"Aren't I now?" said Frank.

"But anyway, do you really think mom can help these guys?" asked Hana.

"I'm sure, from what I gather, nothing's impossible with that woman." replied Frank.

"I guess so," then Frank and Hana started laughing for no apparent reason, but then they slowly stopped and put a solemn look on their faces.

"Frank-san, gomen, I didn't mean to make you fight so hard…" said Hana apologetically.

"It's nothing, I just fight because you needed my help," said Frank.

But Hana said "No, Frank, I have to become stronger, and not just to defeat that guy, that Nero, but also so I can become a good partner for you, we're in this together y'know? It's what real men do: stick up for their pals"

Frank laughed.

"What's so funny?" asked Hana, slightly annoyed.

"Stick up for their pals, huh? Well, I look forward to your progress, Hana, I just hope you keep up" said Frank mockingly.

"I'll show you, Frank; I'll become the best shaman in the world, just like my pop! You'll see!" then Hana asked, "By the way, how did you get your sword back? It was still at the Flame Inn, how did you get there fast enough to get it and come back to me when it's practically a couple of kilometers away?"

"Umm… no comment." said Frank. (sweatdrop)

Elsewhere…

"Dr. Cutter, why did you send our Axe Armors to attack the Diethels?" asked Telsat.

"Well, you see, Telsat, Hao Asakura is perhaps the only foe in this world that actually stands a chance against milady here, however, when I learned that there were those that could defeat the great Hao Asakura, I realized they were an even bigger threat to our mistress than he ever was, and so I thought we'd have to start somewhere, as the old saying goes: All future threats must be nipped at the bud."

Telsat thought about this, "You do have a point, but our primary concern should be with the current Asakura, Yoh, his wife Anna, and their son, Hana…"

The moment Telsat said "Hana" Stella, in her magma prison, boomed, "Do NOT say that name in my presence, it makes me vexed…" said Stella.

"Pardon, milady…" apologized Cutter, "Forgive me, Stella, I meant no disrespect" said Telsat.

Elsewhere still…

A young boy in China was watching his sister fight against a horde of who-knows-what?

As for the young girl, she was wearing a black qipao with yellow trims and with a Qilin (A/N: Chinese mythical animal, look it up on the internet) head imprinted in between her breasts, wearing kung-fu shoes and wielding a pair of Wind and fire wheels as weapons.

(A/N: Wind and Fire wheels- a type of Chinese weapon which looks like a pair of metal ring-shaped blades which come with a leather guard for gripping, not to be confused with chakrams, as chakrams are purely projectile type weapons like boomerangs, whereas wind and fire wheels are used for both melee and long-range)

The girl finished off her trial, as she looked up with a victorious smirk at her sitting brother up in a tree, reading "Sun Tzu's Art of War" with a calm face.

"C'mon, Jin! Don't be a coward, fight with me!" said the girl.

"Ying, I am beyond simply using brute force, all battles can easily be won with rapid analysis, accurate judgment and superb powers of concentration, I wouldn't need to even lift a sword" said Jin in a calm and cool voice.

"Jin, you're hopeless, father wanted us to continue the Tao Family legacy!" said Ying.

"But he never mentioned that I have to do it the way you and he do it, didn't he?" said Jin slyly.

"Like I said Jin: You're HOPELESS"

End of Chapter

A/N: Haha! Yes, I did it! I finished this chapter, woohoo, took me three days (or was it six?) to finish this thing, had to deal with my exams too, but now, I'm done, okay so I know this chap was a little chaotic, but I had to think this one on the fly, c'mon, cut me some slack!


	4. Hana's Hissatsu Tobigiri!

Episode 4: Hana's Hissatsu Tobi-giri! (Or in plain English: Hana's Ultimate Flying-Slash!)

Disclaimer: The only thing I own are the wide variety of Hana's crazy and insane movesets, that is all.

Hana, in an effort to become stronger, has asked his mom and pop to help train him into a "real man", trouble is, Anna only does that to Yoh, she wouldn't like to expose her son to her "Torture Session of Fear, Pain and Madness" (A/N: It's not everyday she admits she's insane) so they worked on a compromise- getting Matamune to train their son instead!

For his first part of training, Hana must run 10 laps around Funbari, (A/N: Yoh, by this time, can run 50 to 90 laps) and so he did, but then Hana started complaining, "Arrrggh! Must I work so hard?!" he whined.

"Urusai! This is for your own good, Hana!" shouted Matamune.

"Hey, Frank-san, can't you help me out here?" Hana asked.

But Frank replied "Sorry Hana, but Matamune's right" said Frank with a smirk.

"Traitor!" shouted Hana.

4 hours later, after the fourth lap

Hana collapsed on the road, "Soooo… tired…" he muttered.

"You lazy whipper-snapper, come on, I know you can do better than that!" said Matamune.

"Mata-sama, I can't…" muttered Hana.

"'sigh', alright, break for ten minutes," and for a while, Matamune left.

Hana went to the park and lay down on a bench, his tongue out and panting sporadically.

"Hana, whatever happened to that 'getting stronger' speech?" asked Frank.

Hana responded "I said what I meant and meant what I said, but I never knew dad had to go through this, and he always told me how much mom was quite the sadist, I think I'm starting to believe him."

Then Frank said "Interesting"

Elsewhere…

In the dark tower-palace of Stella, Telsat and Dr. Cutter plan their next attack against the Asakuras, "So far, our bug-robot and the Axe Armors failed to make any progress with our plans, furthermore, the intervention of that 'Nero' character is proving to make this a challenge for all of us" said Telsat.

"Meaning we must produce something stronger and more capable of wiping out the Asakuras… For now, we will have to depend on the Key of Dark Dominance and produce a new beast, one with more reliability and strength to deal with Hana…" Dr. Cutter had to whisper this due to the fact she and Telsat were in Stella's presence.

Cutter walked towards the rounded altar from the first episode and inserted the key, this time, as the altar opened up, the green holographic image of a knight wearing a red cape and zig-zag sword with a magenta glow emerged…

As for Hana, he went through the laps again, and, like last time, he collapsed on the fourth lap at the fourth hour of his training, again.

"'sigh' maybe we'll try again tomorrow…" said Matamune as he left back for the Flame Inn.

Hana found himself lying on the same bench as the last time at the park, and then Hana shouted to the sky in frustration "Mou! I'll never get stronger!"

Frank appeared, coming to see if his new "Boss" was all right, "Hey, Hana, you okay?" he asked.

Hana replied, "I'm sorry Frank-san, I couldn't get stronger…"

Frank then tried to cheer him up, "Don't feel so down Hana, everything starts out like this, even me when I began my career as a soldier, but the point I'm trying to get on with is… I know you can do it because nothing's impossible, hey, even if you look like a lovable, fun-loving kid, deep down I know you're a TOUGH GUY, eh? Real macho, like your father!" said Frank in an uplifting, optimistic voice.

Hana, at that point, was elated again, "You're right Frank, If not today, then maybe tomorrow, and soon, I'll be the greatest shaman ever!" and with arms raised to the sky and fists clenched, he shouted a loud "YEAH!" in triumph.

Frank broke the mood, however, "Wanna get an ice cream?"

Hana did too, "Okay"

Later…

"Frank, what kind of ice cream do you like?" asked Hana.

"Mint" replied Frank.

"I like vanilla-choco combo" said Hana.

Frank and Hana went to a café in the city to sit down and relax, "Sure is lively" commented Hana about the people around them, chatting, discussing and laughing and what-not.

Suddenly, a knight in silver armor jumped down from the café building and sliced one of the tables in half, Hana's table!

Everyone else ran away screaming while Hana sat there, shocked and stunned by what happened, but snapped back to reality quickly enough to jump away from the one who attacked him.

Then Frank said, "Hana, let's find a better arena for this fight!"

"Right!" then Hana and Frank ran off to find a better fighting location.

Hana and the Cloaked Knight ran until they arrived at some docks by the river. It would be here where they could begin their fight.

"Alright, you! I don't know what you are, but if it's a fight you want, you're gonna get it! Frank, Oversoul!"

Frank fused with Hana's sword to form the same Oversoul from the first episode of this fic, a glowing white aura engulfing the blade and an image of Frank's spirit ball face at the cross guard, and a pair of hexagon-plates forming a shield with red lens-eyes at the center of each, "Remember Hana, don't expend too much, your Furyoku level is still quite small after all" said Frank.

"I got it, Frank, don't worry about me…" both Hana and the Cloaked Knight did a face-off, watching each other and ready to rumble at anytime, then Hana rushed, striking at his opponent in a short exchange of blows, before Hana got kicked by his opponent in the stomach, causing Hana to reel back a bit, "Itai!" said Hana, clutching his belly, "Hana, look out!" Hana ducked before the Knight nearly cut his head off, "Yikes!" and Hana rolled back where he tried to slash him yet again, but was blocked, Hana swiped at his legs, but missed, then they both started trading strikes again, moving all over the warehouse they were in, the Cloaked Knight jumped up on a high ledge, and Hana had to follow him up.

Both combatants pointed their swords at each other, then the Cloaked Knight slashed at Hana, Hana blocked, then he thrust at him, but the Knight jumped and tried to strike Hana again, Hana blocked the attack, but was flown back for a bit, at this point, Hana was getting very annoyed.

"Damn! I can't even get close to him!" suddenly, the Cloaked Knight opened a sort of portal around himself and disappeared into it.

Hana was puzzled, "Huh?"

Just then, Matamune appeared, "Hana, are you alright!?" he said.

"I'm fine, but this… thing, it looks like it wants me to follow it" said Hana.

"What are you going to do, Hana?" asked Frank.

"The only thing we can do, Frank, kick its ass!" then Hana saw a bicycle wheel nearby, "Aha!" then Hana picked it up and walked towards Matamune, "Mata-sama, you don't mind being something vehicular, would you?"

"Nani?" said Matamune.

Inside the Knight's dimension, the Cloaked Knight was standing on a stone platform overlooking a blue-glowing moon, suddenly, the Knight heard the sound of a motorcycle behind him, and he turned and saw Hana rushing up a stone path riding a three-wheel ATV.

(Three wheel ATV- motorcycle which looks like a tricycle)

"Look out, Knight-dude! Behold the power of my Mata-cycle!" yes, Matamune was the ATV, it even had a robot version of his head as the headlight, "I feel ridiculous…" thought Matamune.

Then Frank, while still in Oversoul, asked Hana "Hana, how do you intend to beat him?"

"Not me, Frank, all of us!" replied Hana, to which Frank asked "What do you mean, 'all of us?'"

"Well, you remember I couldn't handle that guy or anyone else by myself, right?" said Hana.

"Yeah…" said Frank.

Then Hana said "Well, here's the deal, we connect all our powers into a single, powerful attack, and this will be performed by all of us: you, Mata-sama, and me, to form the ultimate triple attack!"

Matamune was slightly impressed, "I like the sound of that" he said.

"Alright, Hana, you call all the shots!" said Frank.

"Right! Matamune, you ready?" asked Hana.

"You bet!"

"What about you, Frank?"

"I'm pumped!"

"Alright, let's go!" shouted Hana.

Hana continued racing up the stone path, suddenly, the Cloaked Knight jumped up and started launching slashing streaks which destroyed portions of the path Hana was riding on, but Hana kept riding faster and faster, not letting the blasts stop him, and finally, he made it, the Knight defended with his sword, but Hana, Matamune and Frank instead jumped off his blade and into the air, then Hana jumped off Matamune and raised his sword up, Matamune jumped behind Hana and gripped onto his shoulders, carrying Hana like he was the boy's jetpack, Hana then held his sword beneath his torso, charging straight for the Cloaked Knight, then all three of them shouted "Hissatsu Tobi-giri!"

The Knight launched another slashing streak straight for Hana.

The three warriors started spinning like a twister, going head-long into and crashing into the streak, and the face, of the Knight, at first there was smoke, but then the knight noticed his sword was broken!

"YAAHHH!!!"

The Knight looked up and saw Hana with his sword, jumping towards him from the smoke, and, in that one instant, the Knight was sliced in half, exploding into a white dust…

"We did it…" said Hana, and then he collapsed, "Hana, HANA!" Frank tried to wake Hana up, "Don't worry, Frank, he's only unconscious because he spent up all his furyoku in that attack" said Matamune.

"Whew, that's a relief, stupid kid" remarked Frank.

Suddenly, the entire place flashed in a white light, and they were back at the warehouse.

"We better get him back," said Matamune.

"Right…" Frank reverted to his semi-corporeal form and carried Hana back to the Flame Inn, using Matamune to ride home with.

Later…

Hana was laid on a futon, still unconscious.

Anna looked at her unconscious son, "He may be brave, but he's terribly reckless" said Anna.

"Yoh looked down at Hana from where he was standing, "But the good thing is, he's fine"

Anna sighed, "Yeah, as much as I hate to admit…"

Next Day…

Hana was now even more dedicated to finish his training so he could become a great shaman, but, as he went through his laps, he once again collapsed on the fourth lap on his fourth hour, "HANA!"

"Sorry Mata-sama, but I still can't do it…" muttered Hana.

"Argh!" mumbled Mata-sama.

Elsewhere…

Nero was wandering through some woods, here, he found a sealstone, a large rock with a talisman etched onto it, "I've finally found it…" said Nero.

Then, tearing the talisman off the sealstone, the rock gleamed with a bright light and exploded, and out of the hole from which the stone was protecting, came a massive flying crow-spirit, wearing samurai shoulder-guards and waist armor, furthermore, he had a Bear's Claw Necklace similar to Matamune's, also, he had a samurai chestplate emblazoned with the symbol of Hao Asakura: the Yin-Yang five star sign.

"Karakage, as you were known back then, how are you?" asked Nero.

"It has been five centuries and more, and I was still unable to protect the master…" said Karakage.

"Well, I'll have you know, you are mine now, Goryoushin, and you will have no say in the matter" said Nero coldly.

"What makes you think I will serve you?" asked Karakage in a non-interested voice.

"For one thing, I know where your nemesis is…" said Nero with a smirk, an evil smirk.

This made Karakage perk up, "Matamune!? How do you know him!?!"

"Oh, I know him, but I don't know why, that's why we're going to pay a little visit to him and his friends sometime soon, but I will require your… cooperation" said Nero.

Karakage didn't like the idea of serving someone other than his master, Hao-sama, nevertheless, this boy emanated a peculiar aura which resembled that of Hao, and besides, he knows where Matamune is, what did he have to lose?

"Very well then, as you wish…" said Karakage solemnly.

Then Nero responded "Good,"

Nero started walking back towards the woods, but then he stopped, and summoned the Shadow of Fire, "Shadow of Fire, Armour Oversoul!" then the Shadow of Fire surrounded around Nero forming his Armour Oversoul, the Kurobina.

(A/N: Yes, Hao and Nero's Armour Oversouls are the same)

Nero smirked at his Armour Oversoul, then looked over his shoulder at Karakage, "You too Karakage," in that instant, Karakage became a large, robotic crow, which merged with the Kurobina, becoming a faster, deadlier variant of the original Armour Oversoul.

Nero christened his new Armour Oversoul "Delta Wing Kurobina!"

And flew off into the horizon...

A/N: Yeah! Alright! okay, ahem, this chapter was a little, crazy, yes I know, but don't be angry, this story is choc-full of craziness, and I can't believe I said "choc-full", anyway, Hana is, starting to get a... little stronger, hehe, I'm sure Hana fans would like to know his next duel with his rival, Nero, don't worry, that'll come soon enough


	5. Mystery Biker and the Burning Gorilla

Episode 5: Mystery Biker and the Burning Gorilla

Disclaimer: Standard Disclaimer applies

Hana was lying down on the floor of his house when Matamune came in, "Mata-sama, what are you doing here?"

Matamune replied "Hana, you need more incentive, which is why I'm going to be giving you these" and Matamune presented Hana with a pile of books.

"You call this incentive?" said Hana.

Matamune said "Hey, if there was anything I knew from being Hao's Gouryoshin, it was keeping my wits active; you could learn a thing or two from this, Hana"

"I suppose" sighed Hana.

After a while Hana was getting down into the business of reading all those books Matamune recommended for him, going through text after text of various topics like botany, old-century firearms, Japanese literature, metals, strategies, handicraft, folklore and other assorted books of various local and exotic topics.

"Mata-sama may be smart and all, but I just wish he'd pick a topic that actually catches my fancy" thought Hana.

"Then why don't you find something that might be interesting in that pile?" Frank said as he appeared.

Hana perked up, "Alright then," then Hana dove into the pile to find anything that might look interesting.

"Aha! Here we go!" said Hana triumphantly as he pulled out a peculiar looking book, titled "Shaman History and Terminologies"

Hana took the book out and started shifting through the pages, until he came across an interesting little tidbit.

"Huh, Key of Spirit Dominance? Let's see…"

_The keys of Spirit Dominance, are ancient shaman artifacts of ancient times, more than several centuries ago, in a time long past, the most skilled of shamans would employ the use of these relics to draw on allies from the afterlife, bringing them back to the world of the living in much the same manner as an itako, only much smaller, use of the Keys of Spirit Dominance became practical and a common commodity in the old days, but, as the years went by, their use has largely decreased over the years, to the point where they are now mere treasures of a past age, they are still a prized item among modern generations of shamans today…_

Hana continued reading; this Key of Spirit Dominance seemed interesting…

Later…

Matamune was relaxing on the rooftop of the En Inn, smoking his pipe, when suddenly, Hana burst out to meet him, "Mata-sama! I have an adventure for us, let's go!"

This caught Matamune by surprise, and before he could respond, he found himself once again transformed into the ATC.

(ATC- term used for the three-wheeled variety of ATV)

For a while, they rode off out the road, and in no time flat, they arrived at an isolated place in the woods, "Hana, mind telling me where are we going and what are we doing?" asked Frank.

"Well Frank," started Hana "You see those Keys of Spirit Dominance really caught my interest, so now we're going to go and find out whether or not we're lucky to score a bugger" said Hana wistfully.

Frank could not believe Hana's optimism, even Matamune, who was now floating beside them, "So Hana, have you figured out how to use Keys of Spirit Dominance?" asked Matamune.

"Yeah, all I gotta do is find the darn thing, and use it on a spirit node to summon the name of the spirit printed on the Key," said Hana as though it was a simple task.

"Yes but, how do you intend to get a spirit node? That's the only thing that can make the Keys of Spirit Dominance work and you don't even have one," said Matamune.

"Chill, Mata-sama, I always get what I want in the end…" said Hana slyly.

"Of course you do, like that time when you stole your father's cellphone and made over ten fast-food deliveries, and your parents had to pay for it all,"

"Hey, I was hungry! And I didn't steal it, I was only borrowing it for a while…" countered Hana.

"Then why do I recall your mother saying something about you acting like a spoiled, stubborn brat who kept saying no, even after she offered to buy you your very own?" said Matamune.

"Mou! Can we stop talking about that!? I already said I was sorry!"

(Yes Abie, they were talking about the Cephone)

Back at Funbari, Yoh was visiting a small area in the woods, deciding to head downstream to catch some crabs for dinner; however, as he went down the usual path to his usual stream he was instead ambushed by an army of ghouls!

The ghouls quickly surrounded Yoh, poised to attack, but appeared to be waiting for something; it was then that Yoh caught sight of something else, appearing quite differently from the ghouls, with black surgeon clothes which exposed some skin, red hair and a dark complexion.

"Who are you?" asked Yoh.

"I am Dr. Cutter, and I've been waiting a long while for you to come by here, Yoh Asakura…" said Cutter with a smirk.

Yoh dropped his bucket for the crabs, and reached for his scabbard beside his hip, "Amidamaru, get ready cause it looks like it could get wild," said Yoh.

"I am ready whenever you are, Yoh" replied Amidamaru.

Dr. Cutter watched in amusement, "Alright, Asakura, get ready if you think you can best one hundred of my ghouls! Attack!" then the ghouls came charging for Yoh.

"Amidamaru, into the sword, then the Futsunomitama!" Yoh called upon his preferred weapon of choice and began battling the ghouls.

Yoh slashed one ghoul in the chest, killing that one fairly quick, then he got in between two and quickly dispatched both of them as well, after which he jumped onto the back of another and stabbed him then he moved around and started hitting every single one as he moved from one place to another, striking at each one of them as he went around one after the other.

Back with Hana, our three heroes continued walking through the woods, until they came upon a small shrine in the middle of the forest, with a little red box lying inside it.

Hana jumped, "Aha! I knew it, we could find a Key of Spirit Dominance here!" he shouted.

Hana, Frank and Matamune approached the small shrine, as guessed, this place was a holding spot for a Key of Spirit Dominance.

"Is this box supposed to contain those Key things?" asked Frank, holding up the red box.

"Probably, it has the Dominance sigil printed on top of it," said Hana.

Matamune looked upon the box carefully, then it hit him, "Hana, open the box!"

"Huh?"

"Matamune, what's up with you?" asked Frank.

"Oh, well, I think I know what this key is…" said Matamune.

"Really?! You mean you know which spirit is bonded to this?" asked Hana.

"Mm, it's one of my old comrades…

Meanwhile…

Yoh defeated 95 ghouls while Hana was away, and was working his way with the last five.

Yoh kicked off a tree and slashed two on the throat, and then he ran up and put his arm behind a ghoul's head, pinning him down by forcing it to bend its head down, Yoh used this as leverage while he jumped up, holding his sword between his feet and slashing another in half, then he let go of his ghoul but slashed the head off for good measure, finally, he dealt with the last one using a Shinkuu Buddha-giri, cutting the last ghoul in half.

"Is that all?" asked Yoh, watching as all the ghouls he slew dissipated into white dust.

Dr. Cutter snorted, "Not quite," suddenly, a massive creature about five times taller than Yoh jumps out of the sky and onto the ground near Dr. Cutter.

It was a huge monster with a large rounded green torso and legs made of metal, and brown, bronze feet, it had long arms made entirely out of thick, reinforced metal, and its head was naught but a dome-shaped helmet with a y-shaped slit for its eyes, if it had any due to the blackness of his insides.

"What in the-?" but before Yoh could respond, the monster made a very erratic movement and sound, flailing its arms wildly and shouting "Heavy, Heavy, Heavy DROP!"

"What was that for?" asked Yoh.

"Look up" said Dr. Cutter.

Yoh looked up, and as he did, he saw a GIANT Dumbbell falling right towards him!

Yoh, without any further thought, released Amidamaru and raised his hands up, bracing for impact.

BAM!

Waves of dust and leaves flung into the sky as an immense shockwave was felt for around for the whole area, "YOH!" Amidamaru looked to see if his friend was all right.

As the dust cleared, to the shock and amazement of all, was Yoh, holding on to the GIANT dumbbell on top of his shoulders, like he was Atlas holding onto the world on his shoulders, beneath his feet was a large indention of the impact in the form of a small crater.

Yoh smirked under his weight, "You'll need more than this to keep me down!" then Yoh tossed the dumbbell over to his side and panted heavily.

Dr. Cutter looked annoyed, "Hmph, I suppose I should have known better than to try using a weight against you,"

Then Yoh said "You should see what my wife gives me!"

But Dr. Cutter just retorted, "No matter, I'll just send my Iron Golem into town and find your son, hopefully you won't interfere," this made Yoh perk, "My son!? Hana?!? What do you want with him!?" shouted Yoh, "Oh, just his death, you see I decided to personally take matters into my own hands to pull this one off, so I'll get back to you later, ta-ta!" then she disappeared.

Yoh tried to chase her back into town, but the pressure on his legs made him stumble down, "Yoh-dono! don't move, you need to save your strength!" said Amidamaru, "Damn it!" cursed Yoh under his lips.

Elsewhere!

Hana, Frank and Matamune were walking along the banks of the stream back at Funbari.

"Is that true, Mata-sama?" asked Hana.

Matamune nodded, "During my time with Hao, I was not the only Gouryoshin under his service; there were others alongside me, my comrades-in-arms, we followed and served Hao quite a while, though they had a few conditions for their services"

"Conditions?" asked Frank.

"Yeah, They all really wanted to pass over, and so gave their services only for a temporary while before passing on, but Hao was allowed to summon them whenever he wished, and used the Keys of Spirit Dominance to call them for whenever he was needful" said Matamune.

"Were they special, in any way, Mata-sama?" asked Hana.

"They certainly were; Hao-sama was very fond of the others, not that I was left alone or anything, but they certainly were special" said Matamune.

"How?" asked Hana.

"Well, Hao was in the habit of training the other Gouryoshin in the ways of the five elemental doctrines; he taught them how to control a set element like he could control all elements, possibly to amplify his already considerable powers," explained Matamune.

Then Hana reasoned, "Ah, so Hao used them like equipment!"

Matamune sweat-dropped, "Uh… sort of, any way, I think you've found yourself something genuine, Hana" he said.

"Why's that?" asked Hana.

"Well, I know who is tuned into the key in the box, and he's an old friend, and he should come in handy in case we're needful of help if anything happens to you."

"Cool so how about we bring him out?" asked Hana.

Frank agreed "No harm done, right?"

Matamune just nodded.

Hana began unwrapping the thread of the box, until he suddenly found himself surrounded by ghouls!

"What in the-?!" Hana looked around as he was being encircled by the undead cadavers.

"Hana!" called Frank.

"Right!" but before either of them could do an Oversoul, they heard the loud sound of a motorbike behind them, "Huh?" when Hana turned around, the large shadow of a motorcycle jumped over them, as it landed, Hana saw that the motorbike was a Transmetal Wolf Spirit, just like whenever he transformed Matamune into the Mata-cycle.

As for the Rider, he was a tall boy, about 18 to 19 years of age, with grayish hair, long white coat, black sleeved shirt, blue jeans and a pair of white boots.

He jumped off the bike and started battling the ghouls. First he kicked one in the chest, and then he summoned a small pocket knife, and called out to his spirit, "Hector!" in that moment, a human spirit appeared, wearing a black tunic with golden trim and chain designs, gray pants, brass boots, an orange sash around his waist with white gauntlets.

"I'm ready Soma!" said the spirit known as Hector, "Oversoul!" said the Rider known as Soma.

In moments, the small pocket knife transformed into a broadsword with a bat-themed cross-guard, he was quite possibly a fan of gothic horror if he had that design on his hilt.

He ran headlong into the fray and fought off the ghouls expertly; he slashed two in a quick motion and kicked another in the stomach, then he went after one ghoul after another slashing away and killing most of them instantly, then he jumped and hopped on the head of one ghoul and did a spin slash to another.

Soma proceeded to strike another, then kicked as one was coming from behind, he ducked as three were going to hit him, then he did a slide kick which caused the three ghouls to stumble over and fall, but not before getting halved at their midsection.

All this Hana watched in awe, "He's good…" he remarked, "Yeah," said Frank, "Very skilled, he is" said Matamune.

Finally, the Rider sliced one ghoul up his torso and dealt with the last one by stabbing him through the abdomen.

The Rider looked around as the ghouls dispersed into white ash and disappeared into the wind. Then the young man walked towards Hana, at which point he stopped with a sullen face in front of him.

"A-arigatou?" said Hana, not sure what to make of what just happened.

Suddenly, the stranger brandished a kunai knife!

"Gah!"

"RAWR!"

And in one quick stroke, Soma threw the knife at the oncoming ghoul which jumped behind Hana, piercing through its skull and killing at.

Hana, Frank and Matamune looked at the convulsing ghoul, it moved erratically for a moment, but then went limp, and dispersed.

Then the boy spoke "Why didn't you fight?"

"Excuse me?" asked Hana.

"Don't play coy, I can see your two spirit partners over there, and plus, you've got skill, I can see that, so why didn't you?" he asked again.

Hana stuttered for a moment, before replying "I-I was caught off-guard" he said, trying to explain it away.

"Ha, Figures" said the Rider, "Hey, what's that supposed to mean!?" asked Hana, annoyed.

"Nothing, just be sure you don't get in more trouble" said the boy, and then he whistled to his Transmetal Spirit and climbed on, ready to leave.

But Hana stopped him, "Hey, I didn't quite get your name!" he said.

The grey-haired boy just looked at him with his black eyes and simply said, "Soma, Soma Kurusu" then he turned on his gear and rode off.

"Strange guy" remarked Frank.

"Indeed, but I didn't sense any hostility in him, maybe he's an ally," said Matamune.

"Yeah, well, whoever he is, I don't like him" said Hana.

"Hana, you're acting like a kid" said Frank.

"Frank!" said Hana, exasperated.

Our favorite trio walked into the park, it hadn't changed much from Yoh's time when he was still just a boy.

After a while, Hana found himself once again surrounded by another set of ghouls, "Alright, this time, no mister Soma Kurusu to get in my way! Frank!" Hana called out.

"Got it, Hana!" said Frank.

"Oversoul!" then Frank entered the sword Hana had brought with him, "Let's go!"

Hana dashed out and did battle with the ghouls, raising his sword and striking at one, then blocked an incoming attack, before slashing at their abdomens, and then he proceeded to do away with the other ghouls; he also jumped up and kicked one in the face before attacking that one, Hana then proceeded up some steps, where he did an uppercut slash and a horizontal sweep taking care of all the ghouls, "Heh, is this the best they can do? I'm not impressed" said Hana.

"Heavy!" Hana turned and saw the same iron giant that fought Yoh earlier, "What are you?" he asked.

"Heavy, Heavy, Heavy DROP!" suddenly, three massive dumbbells flew in front of the Iron Golem, then they flew towards Hana.

"Waaaaah!" Hana jumped out of the way to dodge the first one, and then he ducked at the second one, but got hit and fell on his back at the third one.

"Itai!" he groaned out.

Hana got up to see the monster charge towards him; he dodged his flailing arm which was about to hit, him, "Darn monster, take this!" shouted Hana, then he jumped and struck him with his sword.

BANG!

For a moment, there was nothing, then Hana started jiggling like a rattlesnake's tail, "Y-y-y-y-Yag!" he muttered, still vibrating from the shock.

Then the Iron Golem hit him hard with his fist, sending Hana flying back a ways.

"Itai! Darn, this guy is sturdy," said Hana.

As he got up, Hana thought of an idea, "That's it! Mata-sama! Toss me the key!" he said to Matamune.

"Right!" Matamune opened the box and tossed him the key inside.

"Alright! Time to see what this baby can do!" said Hana, eyeing the key in his hands.

"Hana, what about a spirit node, you don't have one!" cried Matamune.

"Relax, Mata-sama, I got it under control" then Hana pulled out a small blade, similar in appearance to Yoh's Futsunomitama, but azure blue in color.

Matamune recognized that blade, "That's… the Gentanken!" said Matamune.

"Yeah, I took this with me when I left Izumo, and now, Frank into the sword, then, into the Gentanken!" Hana, in a bit of a surprise, performed the Double Medium!

As the light cleared, what could be seen was a giant blade which gleamed a pure white glow, and a hilt made of blue plates at the guard, with a red eye formed at the base of the blade, "Neat, ain't it, Mata-sama?" asked Hana.

Matamune was surprised, and impressed at the same time, "Well now I've seen everything… but you still don't have a node!"

"Chill, as I've said, I've got everything under control" said Hana coolly, then he reduced his Double Medium Oversoul with Spirit Reduction, "Now, watch and learn, when I left Izumo, I was but a boy, now I am the MASTER!" then, Hana grabbed the plate with Frank's red lens eye and shifted it open, revealing a keyhole!

"Oh, I get it! Using a Double Medium to serve as a substitute for the Spirit Node! Clever," said Matamune.

"Okay, Dominance Key!" Hana grabbed the key, then inserted it into the keyhole; then Hana chanted out the words to summon the spirit tuned to the Dominance Key, "Spirit of the hereafter, return to the living world, and lend me your strength!"

Hana's blade began to ignite into flames, then he pointed the blade skyward, and soon, a red-colored gate to the afterlife opened, and out of this gate came the spirit infused to the Dominance Key.

It was a large silverback gorilla wearing red Buddhist monk robes, complete with the large beads around his neck; the Iron Golem seemed to regard this new foe with surprise, unable to make out what's going on.

"Who called me, who called for Goutai?" said the huge ape in a gruff voice.

Matamune came up to the gorilla, recognizing his old friend, "Oy, Goutai, do you remember me?" he asked.

"Matamune? Well how about that, my old friend! Why are you here, I haven't seen you ever since you left the afterlife?" asked the gorilla, known as Goutai.

"I've been busy, but right now, Goutai, we need your help!" said Matamune, then he motioned his head to face Hana, "This boy is the son of the one who defeated Hao Asakura in the Shaman Tournament."

"This lad, well now, that is a real honor, what's your name, Asakura?" asked Goutai to Hana.

"It's Hana" he replied.

"Hey, don't ignore me!" shouted the Iron Golem.

"And who is this?" asked Goutai.

"We don't know exactly, but it seems it's here to kill Hana," said Matamune.

This made Goutai peeved, "WHAT!? Who dares try and kill an Asakura, anyone who does is my enemy!!" shouted Goutai in his grandiose voice.

"Heavy, Heavy, Heavy DROP!" then the Iron Golem launched more dumbbells.

"Grrrrrrrrrraaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!" Goutai pounded his chest King Kong style, and then dashed to meet the incoming objects.

"Out of my way!" shouted Goutai, and then in an impressive display of strength, Goutai simply shoved the massive dumbbells with a single swipe each.

"N-Nani!?" the Iron Golem cringed.

"Sugoi!" exclaimed Hana.

"Heavy DROP!!" then the Golem launched some more Dumbbells, at which point Goutai simply charged blindly for the Iron Golem, "Rrrraaahhh!" Goutai rammed his shoulder into the Golem's torso, sending the monster flying away a good distance.

"Awesome work, Goutai!" said Hana, complimenting the gorilla.

"Heh, yeah, I still have it in me, in any case, you should have the honor of defeating this foe, Asakura-sama" said Goutai politely.

"No, Goutai, we're gonna finish him together!" said Hana determinedly, "Huh?" Goutai was confused, but decided to place his trust on this Asakura boy.

"Right, now Goutai, this is gonna feel a little weird, but it won't take long; alright, Transmetal Oversoul!" and Goutai found himself shifted into a fully-robotic version of himself, even his face was made out of metal and of the vague caricature of a gorilla.

"Huh? My body has turned into metal, but I feel stronger!" said Goutai, commenting on his robotic body.

Hana looked at Goutai then said "Okay, Goutai, I'll handle the rest"

Just then, the Iron Golem recovered from Goutai's blow.

"Alright, here we go! Gou-Cannon!" and with those commands, Goutai jumped up and shifted into a battery of four cannons, his hands and feet forming the barrels of the cannons, and attaching themselves to Hana's back, maintaining balance using a pair of grip irons.

"Huh?" the Iron Golem looked at his target with a strange look, despite the lack of a face.

"Let's go, Gou-Cannon!" Hana exclaimed.

In that moment, each barrel started charging with fiery energy, "Spirit… Ally… Shaman! Three powers become one! Sanmittai!" then Hana fired, releasing four fast-moving fireballs towards the Iron Golem, then Goutai shifted back into robot mode, grabbed Hana and tossed him towards the general direction of where the fireballs were going, his toss must be stronger than his attack as Hana found himself flying with the fireballs, combined into one fireball, pretty quickly, "Hissatsu Moeru-giri!" and with one powerful burning slash, the Iron Golem exploded into a massive pillar of flame.

Later…

"It has been an honor to fight alongside a noble Asakura, Hana-sama, but I'm afraid this is where we must part, as I cannot leave the Spirit Realm for very long" said Goutai.

"Hey, that's fine, Goutai, besides, I can always call for you again, right?" asked Hana.

"Yes, you know how, Matamune, it's been nice to meet with you again" he said facing Matamune.

"Indeed old friend" replied Matamune.

"Well, I'm off, remember, just call me," then a portal to the afterlife opened up in the sky, and Goutai quickly jumped inside before it dissipated.

At that moment, Hana went unconscious again, "Hana!" Matamune went to his side.

"Darn it, kid, you used too much furyoku again!" said Frank.

(And what ever happened to our dear Yoh-kun?)

Anna was walking down a lane near the riverbed, carrying groceries, until she saw Yoh lying unconscious on the bank, she rushed for him.

"YOH!"

Anna rushed for her unconscious husband, "Yoh, what happened to you?! Are you alright?!?" she said loudly.

Yoh opened his eyes, "Anna?"

"Oh, thank goodness, anyway, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, I was attacked by some weirdo lady with a giant living suit of armor, and then this armor used a big dumbbell to try and stop me, but I caught it, only I ended up weak on the knees, so I had to get back to the city and stop her, but I had to use the stream to take me back, I must have gone out when I hit a rock, but I made it back" explained Yoh.

Amidamaru appeared, "Hey, Amidamaru, how long was I out?"

"About an hour, Yoh" replied Amidamaru.

"Damn! And to think, I always control whenever I sleep, oh well…"

(sweatdrop)

End of Chapter

Preview of next chapter:

Hana: Nani? A giant plant is taking over Funbari?

Frank: Looks like the local gardener's been slacking

Hana: WAH! Who's that hottie with the pink hair?

Frank: Hana, FOCUS!

Hana: Is it love at first sight?

Matamune: At any rate, we'll have to find out how to deal with that plant monster!

Yoh: Dash for the next chapter: Giant Plant and Hana's Crush

Dennis Gerbera: See you again soon!

A/N: Hissatsu Moeru-giri means Ultimate Burning Slash


	6. Giant Plant and Hana's Crush

Episode 6: Giant Plant and Hana's Crush

Disclaimer: Standard Disclaimer applies

Hana was eating a banana, lying on the roof of the En Inn, thinking about what to do next, as he noted how uneventful.

"I wonder if those zowa-zowas gave up, oh man, I hope not…" he thought.

(A/N: Zowa-zowa is from the "Jan-ish" language; don't even try to understand what it means)

Elsewhere, Dr. Cutter and Telsat were planning their next assault on the Asakura Family.

"Doctor, for this past while now, we have not been able to get rid of those wretched Asakuras, we need a new strategy to deal a hard blow on them."

"Not to worry Telsat, I have something which might be able to give us control of the playing field."

Then Cutter inserted the Dark Dominance Key yet again, opening the gate to the Underworld, calling forth another monster.

"For your sake, doctor, you had better come up with something decent…" he threatened.

"Don't worry, if there was something I realized, it's that the young Asakura boy is apparently quite prone to infatuation with the second species…"

Back with Hana, Frank came to join him in his silent moping on the roof, "So Hana, what'cha up to?" he asked.

"Oh not much, just contemplating on something," replied Hana.

Then Frank asked, "What're you thinking about?"

"About whether or not I'll have a girlfriend,"

Frank looked puzzled, "A girlfriend, Hana, you're too young for that."

"I know, but, Frank, the thing is, I always want my life to be exciting, Uncle Ryu told me that if I ever get into high school, I don't need to participate in sports or join clubs, he said that a boy's life is exciting when he has a girlfriend, cause girls never get boring, and well, I kinda want one."

Frank patted Hana on the shoulder, "Well, I'm sure you can deal, there are plenty of fish in the sea, and from what I know, everyone knows which fish they like, it's all in taste."

"I sure hope so Frank, wanna get a donut?" asked Hana.

"Sure," then the two went to get a donut.

After getting his donut, Hana and Frank went to the park to sit down and think of what to do next, "Hey Hana…"

"Yeah?"

"How about we look for another one of those Gouryoushin? After all, Matamune said there were more than just him and Goutai, right?"

"Hmm… yeah, we could work with that."

Hana and Frank went to the beach, learning that the next Gouryoushin was sealed in a cave by the seaside.

"It must be a Water Gouryoushin, since it lives so close to the beach," said Hana.

"Probably, come on…"

Hana and Frank entered a cave on the far end of the coast, entering inside a nearby cave.

"Okay, this should be the place, now, where could it be?"

"Hana, check this out!" called Frank.

"What is it… Whoa," Frank had found a chamber of the cave with the walls, ceiling and ground covered in ice!

"But there can't be any ice here, I mean, it's summer, there can't be," stated Hana.

"Maybe the Gouryoushin has an influence on this place?" said Frank.

"Probably, let's go see…"

Hana and Frank ventured further into the cave, uncertain of what they might find.

"Hey Frank, over here!" called Hana.

Frank followed by and eventually found the shrine where the Gouryoushin's Dominance key was stored, with bits of ice particles.

Hana wiped some of the particles away, allowing him to pick up the box containing the key, and left.

Hana decided to go to the nearby creek and rest for a bit.

"So, Hana, what do you think's inside?" Frank asked.

"A penguin," he replied.

"Huh!?"

"I'm just kidding! But with all the ice in that cave, I'd think that whatever was inside must have something to do with ice, no?" asked Hana.

"Well, I guess, though, I seriously doubt Hao would have ever considered having a penguin for his spirits, who knows?"

"Hm…"

Hana were walking along the grassy outskirts of Funbari, until Frank happened upon something weird.

"Hey Hana, what's this?" Frank pointed to a small statue.

It had a short, oblong body, with a bird-like face, little hands with holes to insert something, round eyes, and what appeared to be a flat patch of hair on the head.

"That? That's a kappa-jizou," Hana replied.

"Kappa-?" Frank was confused.

"Kappa-jizou, he's the guardian deity of Funbari."

"Guardian deity?" said Frank

"Yeah, a hundred years ago, there was a man, who visited the river everyday, bringing offerings of cucumbers to the kappa every week, who loved the food, then one day, the kappa came before the man to grant him, as a reward for his generosity, a wish. The man wanted the kappa and the people of his region to be friends with the kappa, and he also asked that the kappa help protect their lands against those who would desecrate it. It's an old story told in most of Funbari." explained Hana.

"Hmm… kap-pa?" Frank knows enough Japanese to know that kappa is also the term for cucumber, which is rather odd, considering kappa is the name of the water-imps who love to eat it.

Hana walked towards the kappa-jizou, stroking its head and chanting "Bereke Bereke" to the statue.

Then Frank asked, "Hana, what're you doing?"

"Paying homage, that's how to pay respect to the kappa-jizou, and we also have to keep it hydrated," replied Hana.

Hana went to pick up the dipper for the kappa, and then noticed something on the ground, "Oro? What's this?" Hana picked up an unusual plant bud, it had leaves, and roots, but the plant itself looked like an onion bulb.

"Frank, what kind of plant is this?" he asked, showing Frank the plant.

Frank examined the plant, but in all his time of gorging on plants for survival in life, he had never seen a plant like this, "It's not a mushroom, that's for sure, and I don't think it's a kind of vegetable either."

"Maybe we should take this to the florist, he might know," Hana suggested.

"Alright."

Later…

"Hmm… I'll have to look into this, in the meantime, you can just relax yourself," said the florist.

"Thanks."

The florist placed the plant in a pot and put it near an aquarium, "There, that ought to hold you until I can figure out what you are, then the florist left.

Unbeknownst to him, the plant released a long, thin vine like a tentacle, and reached into the aquarium water, sucking it dry…

Outside…

"Hmm, now what?" Hana was contemplating what to do next, when suddenly, he heard a loud yelp.

"Huh?"

Hana ran to the source of the disturbance, which led him back to the florist's shop. When he came inside, he was shocked to find the place covered in plant-stuff and several long vines tangled around the florist.

"Help me-mpff!" he shouted.

"Don't worry, Frank, Hyoi Gattai!" Hana grabbed his sword and started hacking at the vines, but no matter how many he sliced up, more came sprawling in from the next room, "Darn, there's no end to them!"

"Yes there is!" exclaimed Frank.

"What, how?" asked Hana.

"Plants derive all their nutrients and energy from their roots, if we cut them from their roots, we could be able to defeat this thing," explained Frank.

"Hmm… all right, good call, Frank, let's go!" Hana charged through the vines and arrived at the other room, where he found the plant root, "There it is!"

Hana continued running through the vines, slashing through, then he made it to the roots, "Got ya!" then he slashed them off, and in an instant, the plant turned into white ash.

"Looks like those zowa-zowas didn't give up after all. Well, I suppose that's a good thing, I hope…"

Frank went to check on the florist, "How is he?" asked Hana.

"Unconscious, but nothing too damaging, he'll wake up in a bit," reassured Frank.

Sunset…

Hana and Frank walked back home, pondering on how "easy" that last monster was, a little too much so.

"Hmm… it really didn't put much of a fight, didn't it?" asked Hana.

"It was kind of easy, it didn't even try to kill you," stated Frank.

"Yeah, maybe the zowa-zowas are trying something new," said Hana.

"Probably, we better stay more alert."

Just then, Hana noticed something lying along the road, it looked like an unconscious person, then he went towards it.

"Who do you think it is?" asked Frank, looking at the body which was lying face-first.

"Hey, you all right?" asked Hana.

"Hmm… yeah, I guess I'm fine," then the girl rose to her feet, facing Hana.

"Huh?" Hana was stunned by the pretty girl standing in front of him, with a girlish-pink hair and dark brown eyes, wearing a lovely white dress; dusting off dirt from her body, Hana was, for lack of a better word, mesmerized.

"Hello, are you okay?" asked the girl.

Hana broke out of his trance as soon as he could before he got into trouble.

"Wow, you're pretty," he said involuntarily.

"Uh, I mean… uh… uhm…" Hana stuttered to find the right words.

The girl giggled at Hana's awkwardness, "You're so silly," and continued giggling.

Hana scratched his head in embarrassment, not sure what to say in front of a girl, and a really attractive one at that.

"It's okay if you think I'm pretty, it makes girls like you better, you know?" said the girl with a smile.

An awkward silence fell upon them, until Hana broke it, "So, uh, you got a name? I'm Hana."

"I'm Miki, nice to meet you," then she held out her hand to shake.

"Yeah…" Hana took her hand, and well… shook.

"Uhm… I gotta go now, nice meeting you," he said.

Hana and Miki parted ways, but Hana could still see her face in his mind, she was that… attractive, it would seem.

"Hana-san, are you all right?" asked Frank.

"Frank, what's this feeling, it's so… nice," replied Hana.

"Oh, that… yeah, it's pretty good, for the first time…"

"First time?" asked Hana.

"Love is like a jellyfish, Hana, you can't help but see how magnificent it is, and yet, it kills you, one way or another. Trust me."

"Oh…"

That night…

Hana was looking through the window of the En Inn, pondering about his meeting with Miki, and taking into account Frank's words, but truth be told, he really liked Miki, almost as if instantaneously, but wondered something, what if she didn't like him? What if Frank was right? What if… what if!?

Hana was totally confused, "Oh man, what am I gonna do?!" he huddled himself at the corner of his room and shivered like nuts, scared on what to do next, cause he knew nothing about girls other than the fact they're all really nice.

"Just tell her how you feel!"

Hana turned to Frank, "Just tell her you really like her, and if she likes you, then end of story, and if she doesn't like you, just get over yourself, sheesh!" Frank stated it as if it were all so simple, it made Hana think about whether Frank fell in love once.

Next Day…

Hana went to the place where he first met Miki, wondering if she's still around, "I wonder where she is, I hope she didn't go away."

"What're you doing back here?" Hana jumped at the voice which suddenly spoke to him.

Then there was giggling, "You're really funny, you know that?" Hana turned to find…

"Miki-chan!"

"What're you doing back here anyway?" asked Miki.

"Oh, um, well I was... I was…" Hana was once again at a loss for words.

"You know you really should say something," said Miki.

"Ah! I… I… oh fine, I… I like you… I REALLY like you, satisfied?" asked Hana, almost as if it sounded like he was frustrated at her, _Dang_ he thought, realizing the manner of his voice when he said it.

"Hmm…" then she started giggling out loud, much to the distress of Hana, who only looked down in shame, "Hey, don't do that, you won't look good," said Miki.

"Oh, sorry," said Hana apologetically.

"Hana, you shouldn't be so down on the dumps, it's not good for you. And… I'm really glad you told me you liked me."

"Huh? Wait, why?" asked Hana.

"It's just… I've kinda been waiting for a boy to come and say that, you see, I never really had many friends…" said Miki sadly.

"Oh, I'm sorry…" said Hana apologetically.

"Ie, you shouldn't be worrying about me, it's not your problem."

"Miki, I… I also want a friend, but more than that, I… I want you to be my… friend," said Hana, not certain of what he just said.

"Thanks… Hana," and then, another silence crept over them.

It lasted for a full hour, with both unable to come to even a phrase for themselves.

"Hey, wanna come back to my place?" Miki asked.

"Sure," replied Hana.

Across the distance, hidden within a tree, were Frank and Matamune, "Something's fishy about that girl," said Matamune.

"She's got the scent of a genuine Mata Hari, let's tail them!" said Frank.

"Ee," then they both jumped off the tree and gone after Hana and Miki.

(A/N: "Ee" also means "yes" in Japanese, though I'm not really certain as there are varying pronunciations)

When Hana and Miki arrived at her house, an old temple just on the outskirts of Funbari, Miki asked Hana to sit near the table.

"Hey, Miki…"

"Yes, Hana?"

"Do you have any relatives living with you?" asked Hana.

"My grandpa, but he works elsewhere in Tokyo, so he only comes around a few days, but he was kind enough to teach me some things to take care of the house for him,"

"Oh, okay…"

Then Miki noticed that she didn't have any powdered teabags, "A-re? No more?"

"Anything wrong?" asked Hana.

"Oh, not much, I just noticed I don't have anymore tea, I'll go into town and get some, why don't you stay here, Hana?"

"Okay," replied Hana.

Miki left the house to go get some tea, little did she know, Frank and Matamune were spying on her, "She left the house and Hana didn't, did she kill him?!" thought Matamune.

"No, I can sense Hana from here; I think she's left him alone for now, but we better find a way to get rid of her!" said Frank, Matamune nodded and both went after her.

Hana…

Hana was waiting at Miki's house as he was asked, and decided to do something for fun, then he remembered bringing some of his figurines from at home, "Of course!" then he rummaged to see what he had.

After some searching, all he could find were his Wyvern Hades Pantheon God figurine, a MagiMother figurine, and his Wolzard Wolf Knight.

Hana sighed at the lack of playthings he had at the moment, but decided to improvise…

Elsewhere…

Miki went to the store selling the tea, unaware that she was being followed by:

Frank the ghost-possessed Chevrolet Camaro.

And Matamune, the living ghost-possessed CD-player of the Camaro.

Slowly, they encroached upon Miki as if they were stalkers, of sorts…

Frank drove up close, but didn't want to blow their cover, instead opting to follow her inside.

Miki turned her head, feeling something strange approaching her, "A-re? I thought there was someone behind me…"

Miki continued surveying around, but found no one; she shrugged and continued looking for the tea.

Frank and Matamune assumed the forms of a rolling orange (Frank), And Matamune possessed a rolling lemon…

"Hey, Frank, why are we fruits?" asked Matamune.

"There was nothing smaller, now come on…" the orange and lemon rolled after Miki.

Miki finally found the tea she was looking for, then she felt someone again spying on her, she turned and saw an orange and lemon next to her, "Huh? What are they doing here?" she thought.

Miki left for the counter, when Frank and Mata-sama went after her, a cart rolled by and flattened them both…

"Itai!" They both exclaimed.

Miki left the market by this time…

"Aah! We have to tail her!" shouted Matamune.

Frank took over a nearby police car, while Matamune hitched a ride as, once again, the police car's sound system.

Unfortunately, Miki was already a good distance away, so Frank and Matamune had to rush at her with top speed.

However, Frank went so fast he couldn't turn to the side, and now he and Matamune were two blocks away from where they were.

"We'll never find her like this!" said Frank.

"Let's just go back to her house, we might still catch her!" said Matamune.

"Good idea!" then Frank was about to start up again when… "Uhm, Matamune, which way was her house again?"

"Argh!"

Miki arrived back at her house, "I'm back, Hana!" she shouted, but she got no reply.

She went to check after Hana, who was playing with his figurines…

"Bwahahaha! You are finished, Louise!" said Wyvern.

"Damn, he's too tough for me!" said Louise, as Magimother.

"DIE!" shouted Wyvern.

Then he fired a powerful blast of hellish energy, boom! And Wyvern thought they were finished, he walked away, but then saw that Louise lived, and it was because of…

"Saito!" Louise's loyal tsukaima and, by extension, love interest.

"You tried to hurt my Mistress, I shall not forgive you! Golu Golu Goludiiro!" and Saito became Wolzard Fire!

Then Hana noticed Miki came back for the tea, "Oh, Miki, you're back."

"I'll go get the tea ready…" she grinned, ignoring Hana playing with his "action figures."

As for Matamune and Frank, they were lost due to Frank having not paid attention to the direction he and Matamune used to follow Miki to the market, "I think maybe we go right, and left at the second corner," said Matamune, who also didn't know.

Miki got the tea ready and went back to Hana, giving him some, "Arigatou, Miki."

The two drank their tea in silence, until Miki politely offered Hana some of her rice balls, which Hana gladly accepted.

"Wow, Miki, you're really good with rice balls, for that matter, you're practically an adult!" said Hana, surprised by Miki's amazing talents.

"Heh, well, I get by, and it's not as hard as you think," said Miki.

They followed that with some giggles, then another silence overcame them, "So, you wanna talk about anything? Like your hobby?" asked Hana.

"Well, I like knitting…" and both talked and talked for quite a while…

Finally, it was getting late, and Hana had to leave, though not before he said goodbye to Miki.

Miki suddenly had an ominous feeling creep over her, and then she crouched into a fetal position.

"Go AWAY!!" she shouted, before the feeling began prying into her, "I don't want to do it, Go AWAY!"

It was no use, there was no point, "I… I don't want to hurt him," then she started crying.

"Why can't you leave him ALONE!?! sob" then a voice simply said…

_Because he must die!_

Hana was heading back home, looking at the Dominance Key he recently got on his hand, wondering if there might be another way for him to access its power without Frank's help, after all, he did it without using a real Spirit Node, so why not do another impossible task?

Miki suddenly appeared a good distance away from him, "Huh, Miki-san, what are you doing here?" he asked, going over to Miki's side.

"Hana, I… I don't want to see you anymore," she said, her head bent so you couldn't see her eyes.

"Eh, Miki-san, what are you talking about?" asked Hana, thinking this was a joke.

"I mean, you can't see me anymore, goodbye," her voice sounded rather cold, and then she started to walk away, leaving Hana somewhat confused.

"Wait a minute, Miki, what are you saying? Why?" he asked, grabbing her arm.

"I said to leave me alone!" then Miki punched Hana, sending Hana flying away a good distance.

When he got up, he staggered to see Miki, who had tears in her eyes, and a pack of vines twisted into a fist in her hand, "What the heck?" Hana was confused, and then Miki revealed her true identity.

"Really Hana 'sob', you had me there for a second 'sob' but, it's been fun playing with you, really it 'sob' has," Miki was having trouble speaking, with all the sobs, Hana could sense that Miki was in pain, and he knew why, "Miki, you don't have to do this…"

"Urusai! If I kill you now, then the pain will all go away…" said Miki, not certain of herself.

"Miki, don't do it, you'll only hurt yourself more…" pleaded Hana.

"Hana…" Miki shed one last tear before going berserk, "Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!"

Soon, her clothes tore off, and she was enclosed in a white flower bud, and from underneath that, the stalk of a flower emerged from underneath it, "You… you were the plant that attacked that shop!" said Hana, recognizing the giant monster plant.

Then Miki emerged from the bud, with her legs and half her thigh attached to the flower.

"I'm sorry, Hana-kun!" she shouted.

Then several long, tentacle-tendrils emerged from the plant, and began their attack on Hana, trying to smash him with their big bulbs.

"Wha-!" Hana rolled and jumped from the marauding tendrils, doing a whole slew of unimaginable feats to do so.

Hana nearly missed one when it scratched his face, leaving a small bruise, "Just great, where are Frank and Mata-sama when you need them?" he thought helplessly.

Hana was caught by surprise when a tendril sweeped his feet, throwing him to the ground.

Miki tearfully stated her goodbye to Hana, "I'm sorry, but I'll never be able to stop them, I'm so sorry Hana!" then the tendril was about to perform a finisher on Hana, until the dominance Key Hana was holding suddenly let out a blue shine.

"Nani!?" said both Hana and Miki.

"Shakkin!" suddenly, something glowing aqua blue jumped out of a portal produced by the key, it was…

…A shark?

An anthropomorphic shark, with limbs, and samurai armor, and his tailfin, "Who are you?" asked Hana.

"Not now kid, evil looms…" said the shark.

"Urusai!" shouted Miki, and then she unleashed a whole flurry of tendrils to attack the shark.

"Kori-Same Ken!" then the shark summoned a pair of swords to his side.

When the tendrils were close to him, he performed a wild attack, swinging his sword around wildly, cutting the thousands of them into shreds in an instant, and then he called to Hana.

"Yo, kid! If you wanna live, fight with me!" he said.

"Wha- um, okay, Oversoul!"

Then the shark transformed into a metallic robot mode of itself, similar to Goutai.

"Neat!" said Hana, then the shark shifted into a kind of hover board.

"Damn you!" Miki let loose another attack, but the shark, along with Hana, was able to dodge all the blows, "Go, kid! GO!" shouted the shark.

Then Hana was given his pair of the swords the shark had wielded and charged for the base of the stalk, "I'm sorry, Miki…" Hana muttered, and then he combined both swords together, creating a larger blade.

"Alright, together!" he exclaimed.

Hana charged his new weapon with furyoku, creating a frozen beam of energy for his next attack.

Then the shark spirit released two jets of ice at Miki, freezing her entire body, and then Hana performed the finishing touch, "Hissatsu Hyou-giri!" Hana slashed horizontally at the frozen plant, causing cracks to appear all over itself, then burst in a fiery explosion, but not before Miki muttered, "Thank you, Hana-kun…"

Later…

Hana looked out into the river, lost in his thoughts, and was waiting for Miki, "Who am I kidding? She isn't coming back…" and Hana unconsciously shed a tear, not having realized it.

But as he was trying to take in these recent string of events, Hana was being watched by a blonde little girl, roughly his age, wearing a pink windbreaker and black, frilly skirt, looking sadly at him from the distance…

And whatever happened to Frank and Matamune?

"Matamune, I think we're going in circles" said Frank.

"And I say, we're going the right way!" shouted Matamune.

"But Matamune, we've passed the same sushi shop for the seventh time now, I say we turn left…" said Frank.

"No! I'm sure it was somewhere to the right of this street, now keep moving!" said Matamune.

"You know what, how about I shift into Barricade and…"

"Frank! You are not a _Transformer_!" shouted Matamune.

"But Matamune, you're practically where Frenzy was in the movie…" countered Frank, apparently moving the topic away from Hana and towards something else…

(sweatdrop)

Preview of the next chapter…

Hana: I found a new Gouryoushin!

Matamune: Good work Hana.

Nero: Hey guys, I'm back…

Hana: Nero!

Yoh: Hey Anna, something's been making the water foul lately.

Anna: Probably that fish-guy I saw in the canal.

Hana: Does anyone know who that girl is?

Matamune: I don't see anyone Hana

Hana: But she's right here!

Frank: Hana, only you and I can see her

Hana: Huh?

Nimian Flyer: Dash to the next chapter…

Episode 7: The New Girl


End file.
